Can we keep up with technology and modernism?

[RedGlitter]

There's that saying "If someone builds a better mousetrap, you build a better mouse."

When I was in the second back in the early 70s, on Move Friday we all hustled into the cafeteria to watch this movie called "1999 A.D." It was very futuristic. The only thing I remember is that it predicted we would have robotic chess games that would play against us and food pills in place of meals. Well, we've far superseded that.

Thinking of all the technology we have today, are we outsmarting ourselves? For instance we can clone now but can our human ethics keep up?

Are we improving the mousetrap but neglecting the mouse?

Are we computerizing ourselves out of jobs?

Are we ethically mature?

Will we destroy our society and/or world as we know it by constant improvements?

[Joe]

I think an interesting rider to that question is has all our technology made us happier or made our lives better overall?



People often look back into the past & ask if things are better now, or were they better then? For all our technology are we happier than our parents, our grandparents, our very distant ancestors?



I don't think we are. I would agree our lives have got easier & more comfortable, I would agree our survival chances (in the developed world anyway) are greater with medical advances etc, but overall I think life has got as much wrong with it now as it did then.



We are still unsatisfied, we still want more (or different), we still have a balance of right & wrong, pleasure & frustration, happiness & discontent.



Although we have more we also have less. The question of quality of life is a hard one to address, the past is a different country, they do things differently there. But many old people living today hanker back to 'the good old days' (maybe with selective memory), & bemoan the passing of things they miss as much as they selectively embrace the things they welcome.



I think our society & world as we know it has not been constantly 'improved'. I'd just say it's been constantly changed. And in one sense I'm glad I live now, but in another sense I wish I lived in a different time. And it's not a case of us having more freedom to live as we want to, we are at the mercy of our personal circumstances just as much now as we ever were.



And this will always be the case.

[maccat]

Red Glitter your suggestion on whether we are becoming a society out smarting itself with all the new technology is something i believe is the case. Where will it all end? Can it all end i often think. The simple truth is New technology will always be developed. Without such actions society would stand still. I believe what the problem really is, is that technology is moving too fast. People are becoming cleverer and new inventions and idea's more achievable with todays advancements in technology. Greed also plays a part in the rapid inovations we are experiencing. Big companys trying to win our custom are out smarting each other with better and better everything. Society needs to slow down, things can't continue to advance at this pace for much longer or we are in danger of something. I don't really know what, but life for us mere mortals is going into overdrive and something has to give. How much more technology can they cram into our brains? I believe the 70's with less technology and a slower pace of life was a good enough period for me. I may sound boring but life was much more pleasant and less chaotic.